About the submission

The current export approval for the WAPFTIMF is valid until 1 June 2010 and the fishery is now due for assessment for ongoing export accreditation. The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) received a submission - Application to the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts on the Pilbara Fish Trawl Interim Managed Fishery from the Department of Fisheries, Western Australia in April 2010. The report has been prepared to address the Australian Government Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries, 2nd edition (the Guidelines) and to provide updates on the implementation of recommendations made in the original DEWHA assessment. The submission will be used to assess the operation of the fishery for the purposes of Parts 13 and 13A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

Consideration will be given to:

declaring the WAPFTIMF as managed consistent with the Pilbara Fish Trawl Fishery (Interim) Management Plan 1997 and Fish Resources Management Act 1994 as an Approved Wildlife Trade Operation under section 303FN of the EPBC Act; and

including on the list of exempt native specimens, specimens harvested in the WAPFTIMF under the provisions of the Pilbara Fish Trawl Fishery (Interim) Management Plan 1997 and Fish Resources Management Act 1994.

In accordance with the provisions of sections 303FR and 303DC of the EPBC Act, you are invited to comment on this proposal.

Call for public comments open until 31 May 2010.

The submission is available for downloading above.

Please submit your comments to the address below:

The Director
Sustainable Fisheries Section
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
GPO Box 787
CANBERRA ACT 2601Submissions may also be sent by fax to (02) 6275 9374 or email
sustainablefisheries@environment.gov.au

Any comments received will form part of the documentation provided to the Australian Government Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts for a decision. Copies of comments may be made available to other persons with a particular interest in the application. If you wish to claim confidentiality for any part of your comments, would you please discuss the matter with the Director of the Sustainable Fisheries Section on (02) 6274 1917.